Danny Cater broke into the big leagues in 1964 with the Phillies but got his first chance as a regular starter after being traded to the White Sox with Lee Elia after the ’64 season for Ray Herbert and Jeoff Long. Cater would spend only the ’65 season and the first couple months of the ’66 season before being traded to the Athletics for Wayne Causey. Cater had some of his most productive seasons with the Athletics in Kansas City and Oakland. In 1968 he batted .290, good for second in the American League behind Carl Yastrzemski’s .301 (the lowest batting average ever to win a title). The next spring, Cater was featured in a Sports Illustrated article as “one of the game’s best unknown players,” and in 1970 after being traded to the Yankees had arguably his best season, batting .301 with 76 RBI and 64 runs scored for the second place club. His playing time steadily declined over the next five seasons, which he spent with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Cardinals.

Cater’s started 119 games for the 1965 White Sox, 109 in left field, 8 at third base, and 2 at first base. He occupied the leadoff spot, even though his batting average at that spot was lower than any other spot in the lineup. His .270 average on the season was very respectable, and his 74 runs scored was second only behind Don Buford. His 14 home runs were tied for third on the team with Floyd Robinson, and was also a career high for Cater, who would only hit 51 more in his remaining 10 seasons as a big-league ballplayer. Cater started off the season exceptionally strong, batting .328 with 17 RBI and 21 runs scored in the team’s first 32 games (during which the Sox went 23-9). The Sox’ decision to trade him after he got off to a slow start in 1966 turned out to be a poor one; Cater would go on to have five consecutive productive seasons in the big leagues, while Causey was never a regular starter for the White Sox and never batted over .250 after being traded for Cater.

During his one full season with the White Sox, Cater had a knack for clutch situations, batting .327 with two outs and runners in scoring position and .319 when the game was late and close (7th inning or later, with the game tied, the Sox ahead by one, or with the tying run at least on deck). Perhaps one of Cater’s ultimate late and close heroics came on June 4th, 1965. The White Sox had gone only 5-8 since the 13-run affair against the Athletics on May 17th, and had slipped to 1.5 games behind the Twins coming into their Friday evening matchup at Yankee Stadium. Joel Horlen started for the White Sox and Bill Stafford for the Yankees. Both starting pitchers scattered six hits but gave up no runs, and the game went into extras. Eddie Fisher took the mound for the Sox in the 10th and the Yankees used three relievers to get the game to the 15th, still tied at 0. Cater, batting leadoff, was 0-6 with three strikeouts when he came to the plate with one out and nobody on in the top of the 15th. Facing Pete Mikkelsen, Cater smashed his 5th home run of the season, putting the Sox ahead 1-0. Robinson would add another solo home run later in the inning, and the Sox won the game 2-0 to remain 1.5 games behind the Twins. Eddie Fisher’s six innings pitched, giving up only one hit, was his longest outing of the season and earned him a well-deserved fifth win of the season to add to his 11 saves.

A young White Sox fan in 1965 looking at Cater’s card might have seized on his minor league performances in 1959 and 1961, years when he hit above .300 and scored more than 100 runs. Cater would never score more runs than the 74 he scored for the 1965 White Sox, but he did go on to have a productive major league career.